To begin with we see Korra reading about a pro-bending match (some sort of sport thing involving bending that we'll get to later) and asking Tenzin if she can go and watch. He says no, saying she needs to focus on her training and so on, meaning there's no room for 'distractions'.
OK, I don't want to compare everything to The Legend of Aang, but if the Avatar could go and watch a crappy play about himself barely a few weeks before half the world will be burnt to a crisp, can't Korra go and watch a sport one evening when our main threat has barely been introduced?
Anyway, we then see the two of them discussing her airbending, or lack thereof. I mentioned earlier that I though Korra would struggle with it, and it turns out I was right. Her first lesson has her try to make her way through some spinning boards without touching them and, being as overly forceful as she is, she can't manage it, and is beaten back.
The kids offer very unhelpful advice throughout. I still hate them.
We later see her attempting to airbend on a newspaper article about Lin Bei Fong. Yeah, I found that kinda funny. It's unsuccessful. Korra hears the still non-badass White Lotus members, who are even said to basically be guards making sure she never leaves the island (I swear, Iroh must be turning in his grave they're so pointless) listening to a radio commentary on a pro-bending match, and she secretly listens in. As a side note, the commentator reminded me too much of the radio section in the middle of Meatloaf's 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light'. Yeah, probably not something you want to go for, Nickelodeon. Anyway, Tenzin stops it just as it got towards the end, and exposes Korra, who fairly points out he never said she couldn't listen to a match, just never watch one. So he forbids her from that as well, believing she needs a peaceful environment to learn airbending. This is a stupid idea - Korra has been a fan of pro-bending since she was a kid, apparently, and now she lives just across the way from the stadium of the sport (is there only one in the world? I dunno). I think if anything's going to make her un-peaceful or whatever, it's going to be knowing how close it is and not being able to watch or even listen to a match. It would frustrate me, I know that much.
Korra attempts to meditate, and fails, but is assured by Tenzin that one day it will click. The children attempt to be funny/adorable and fail. They get no such consolation. Korra, in frustration, walks away from her training. She sneaks out when it goes dark and swims all the way to the pro-bending arena, coming into what she thinks is the stadium. An old guy walks in and catches her, but she's saved by a new character, Bolin. I like Bolin, he makes a good first impression by telling the old guy that he and Korra are together in a very cocky manner and immediately backtracks when she says they're more like friends. It's a funny bit of dialogue between the two, and I suspect that Bolin is going to be our comic relief for the series, a bit like Sokka was for Legend of Aang.
He leads Korra into the actual stadium, as she had instead stumbled upon the training area for the pro-benders, and we are introduced to another new character, Mako, who immediately comes off as the 'brooding' character. That is to say, he's an asshole towards Korra. He and Bolin make their way onto the stadium with their teammate, who I don't really remember anything about except that he's the weakest of the three and someone else Mako feels the need to be a douche to.
So it turns out that pro-bending is three benders on each team, a firebender, waterbender and earthbender, the aim of the game being to knock the other team back, and advance when they do so. Whichever team is further forward at the end of the round wins and if they are all knocked out into the water they lose. Mako is shown to be 'cool under fire', although I disagree with the announcer - that is not a style of fighting. It's a mind-set that many people have. There is nothing signature about it. Anyway the 'Fire Ferrets' win the match (Mako and Bolin's team), although the repeated use of the term 'fabulous' by the announcer to describe them and their fighting will never not be funny.
Korra reveals that she's the Avatar to Mako and Bolin, who teaches her some pro-bending moves. Mako still acts like a jerk.
Korra still struggles with her airbending, and ends up blowing up the spinning boards, before telling Tenzin he's a terrible teacher. While this is clearly supposed to be a moment Korra is being out of order, I have to agree; Tenzin is not in the least suited to teaching Korra. He constantly butts heads with her and aggravates her, even though he says she needs to be at peace. Way to send mixed messages, mate.
Tenzin has a rant about her at the dinner table, and asks his daughters to promise him they won't be like that as teenagers. His eldest daughter (the least annoying) brilliantly responds 'I will make no such promises', in a completely deadpan voice. She's getting into my good books now.
Korra returns to the arena and takes the place of the waterbender on the Fire Ferrets team, since he didn't turn up. Mako tells her not to do anything, and she goes on to make several illegal moves. Now, I understand why they did this - to show audiences more of the rules - but you'd think that someone who has been following the game since childhood would know the rules, wouldn't you? Also, why don't the brothers make sure she's aware of the rules before the match? This may just be a nit-pick, but it still bugs me.
Looking back, I realise I've been pointing out a number of flaws in this episode. I actually don't think it's that bad, and in truth I tend to forget that it is meant for kids with adults being able to watch it as well. For a second episode, I think it's quite good; it has a lot to recommend and hopefully they'll keep getting better from here.
As characters go, Tenzin and his family still aren't great, but they're getting better. Korra is still excellent; it would have been so easy to make her character annoying by focussing entirely on her flaws and her inability to airbend, but instead they balance it with the awestruck wonder she shows at the pro-bending matches and her interactions with the very likable Bolin. Bolin and Mako are both very different characters; while I like the humorous but cocky Bolin, Mako hasn't done much aside from a few fancy tricks in the pro-bending matches (which is offset by being called one of the 'fabulous bending brothers', which does nothing to help his street-cred). Hopefully he will develop into a more likable or more interesting character; preferably both. The animation and artwork is still great, even better than Legend of Aang. This is well shown in the pro-bending, both in the grand design of the arena and the individual players themselves, with the movements of each being both different from each other and different to the bending styles of each element outside of it. This really goes a long way towards its presentation as a real sport. It bears a few minor similarities to the earthbending wrestling of season two of the Legend of Aang, and while it's nowhere near as funny as that was, it is much easier to take seriously.
I like the way they focus on two areas: Air Temple Island, for a start, serving as an excellent throwback to the first series with designs similar to the Air Temples, as do the clothes and gliders worn and used by Tenzin's family. The pro-bending arena, in complete contrast, is much more modern, with the lighting, speakers for the announcers, the general feel of the stadium have a very fresh, new feel to them. The two areas are the focus and really serve to show just how far the world has come in the past eighty years, with the Air Temple reminding us of how it was back then and the arena showing us where the world is now, in terms of the technological advancement. I'm absolutely psyched about the possibilities, and hope to get the next episode watched and reviewed much quicker than I have for this.
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